Essay Online

A large box arrives from a New York Publisher. It’s here&ndashYOUR BOOK! You hurriedly rip it open and take the first book out. There it is…YOUR NAME as the author of your first book. You forget to breathe and your heart skips a beat in excitement.

You caress the spine and read the title and your very own name again. The cover looks great. You read the back cover and study it carefully. Even though you saw the proofs, it’s like you’ve never seen it before. Your excitement builds. There is nothing like the thrill of holding a book you authored in your hands&ndashexcept the exhilaration of growing rich because of the business you build around it!

You hold the book and feel its heft in your hands. All your hard work … researching the needs of your intended audience … reading about other books in your topic … looking for the needs that only you can fill … writing your book … creating “buzz” in your book before it ever made it into print … has paid off.

You hold the book to your nose and smell it. There is nothing like that new book aroma of paper and ink&ndash when you’re the AUTHOR!

Who will you tell first? Your spouse? Your best friend? Your mother? Or maybe the person or people who tried to squash your dream? You made your big dream come true despite all the negativity the dream-stealers could throw at you.

Because of everything you learned in the Entrepreneurial Authoring program, your book is already creating a stir on the internet and around the world. You are receiving offers to do interviews, be a guest on podcasts, and appear on live broadcasts. You are getting hit after hit on your website because you have wisely peppered the net with your articles and special offers. You are becoming the go-to expert in your area…

And you are helping thousands and thousands of people solve their problems…

And they are all coming back to YOU to help them continue to solve their problems.

And they are telling all their friends about your book…

And you are getting interviews and notoriety for your book…

And you have established tremendous credibility by providing value to people…

And your book is getting lots and lots of attention…

And you are growing a thriving business…

And you are growing RICH!

If this is your dream, take action right now and it will become your reality. Don’t keep telling yourself you’ll start writing that book “someday.” Make it a priority to start now! Get out a pad and pen and get started today!

Last night in the dark following midnight I killed my muse (suffocating her quietly with a pillow) and buried her in my back garden. Today I will plant a roses to hide the grave. No one will ever know and I will be free at last of her insidious hold and I will be able to write what I want.

Why did I resort to this deed? After all my muse was lovely and gave me many gifts over the years. She saw me through dark times and helped mark the joyous ones. Many times she inspired me to reach for more and push myself beyond what I thought I could achieve. Knowing all this why would I kill the very source of my inspiration?

Oh, I had my reasons…

It started out quietly. As I would sit at my keyboard or curl up with a notebook, she would perch on my shoulder as was her wont to do. “I don’t think you meant to write that sentence,” she would whisper in my ear. “That doesn’t sound like the best description,” she would snipe. “Is that the best you can do?” she would sneer.

I took to sneaking my writing in when I knew she was occupied elsewhere. She never could resist critiquing the writing in the morning paper if it was left spread on the kitchen table. That way I could sometimes write several pages before she began her commentary. “Surely you can find a better way to approach this topic,” her mocking voice would interrupt. “That has been so done.”

Soon I was spending more time arguing with her, defending my words, than I was writing. Then my production slowed to a crawl as I would overanalyze each word choice and sentence formation before committing it to screen or paper. All that did was give her more time to find fault with the few words I did write.

Despite urgent deadlines and simmering ideas, I started avoiding the computer and all writing materials. I cleaned my house. I read for hours on end. I made plans for a new garden. The need the write built within me but always my muse was watching me with those eyes — so judgemental, so critical. I would turn away from my office with a sigh and find some other project.

When I could no longer suppress the urge to write I locked her in a closet and had a wonderfully productive morning. I was so happy with my work that I let her out as I went out the door to run some errands. That just made her mean.

She was waiting for me at the door when I came home. Her glasses had slid nearly to the tip of her nose and somehow she’d found a red pencil (I certainly never brought any such thing into the house). I shuddered at the sight of my happy morning’s labor marred by vicious slashes of red. The red blurred before my eyes into a crimson haze and then…

Perhaps it is better that you don’t know the details. Suffice it to say that I have selected several old-fashioned roses with luscious aroma and delicate coloring. I am sure they will provide both inspiration and comfort.

Despite my late hours and the physical toil involved, this morning I awoke early and have already logged in several hours at the keyboard. My fingers flew across the keys and after completing several long-stagnant projects I outlined notes for some new. Writing is joyful and rewarding again.

I think I might dedicate this next book to the memory of my muse. Perhaps it will serve as a warning to those other muses out there who are on the verge of going over the edge. Perhaps it will inspire those other writers out there who have let their muse stifle their creativity and shove them right into writer’s block. Maybe my warning will mean those other muses and their writers will find a way to work things out.

Every writer dreams of the day when they can profit from their writing. While income opportunities abound for writers each method has drawbacks.

Newspaper and magazine reporters can make a good living but their subject matter is often closely regulated and directed. Corporate writing can be even more lucrative but even more tightly controlled. Freelance writing offers more freedom but is also more uncertain. Publishing books is even more uncertain. So what is a writer to do?

Forget all those old-school writing methods and focus on the internet. Don’t write for anyone but yourself. You really can profit from writing only about what interests you. Don’t worry about the market or the editors. Write for yourself. Not only will it be more fun and rewarding for your soul but for your checking account as well.

I am going to share an easy (and cheap) 5-step formula that can help you start your own writing business today, but first I want to share one important fact.

This is not a get-rich quick scheme. It will take some time to earn, perhaps as long as three months to begin turning a profit, but if you keep working at it you should see your income grow exponentially each month and you should be able to count on that income and know what you have to do to increase it. You will have total control over your income and that is very powerful.

1. Create a blog account at one of the free blogging sites available online (we used to use Blogger.com but there are many other good options). This will serve as your internet base. It really is the cheapest and easiest way to get online today. Yes, you could create a free web site at one of the many available but blogs are more attractive to the search engines. Plus they offer you the ability to personalize it but most of your energy will be spent on content which is the king of the internet and the real reason you want an internet presence.

2. Now sign up for a free ClickBank affiliate acccount which will give you immediate access to something to sell.

3. Sign up for a contextual or pay-per-click advertiser such as Google, Yahoo, Revenue Pilot, or SearchFeed and you’ll start earning from visitors as well as customers.

4. Develop your blog. Make 10 your immediate goal then work your way up to 25, 50 and 100 and so on. Your entries can be your opinions, thoughts, or ramblings; poems or short stories; or articles.

5. Promote your blog through article marketing, link development and submitting your blog feed. I would suggest your primarily focus on article marketing as if offers the ability to not only develop links but also delivers traffic plus as a writer it is easy for you to create articles or use a selection of the material you’ve already created for your blog.

Yes, it really is that simple and while you can later grow by buying your own domain name (or names) and publishing your blog on your own site you do not need (and likely should avoid) investing money in expensive tools

Getting started on the web can be free (as you see above) or inexpensive if you concentrate on what you really need. The simple truth is that you don’t need a lot of fancy, expensive tools and programs. In the long run a domain name is a good investment. A domain name will cost you between $5 and $10 a year depending on whether you go .com or .info (or one of the many other options available). You don’t need to find a web host or create a site. Simply point the domain at your blog for now and continue with the development and promotion of your blog. The advantage of owning your own domain name is simply that later when you have the money, time, and knowledge to develop your web site that domain name will already exist and have filtered through the search engines. It also offers some marketing advantages that a free blog cannot.

At some point you may decide you want more flexibility and control than a free blog can offer and that is when you will want to run your own site. You can find a good web host for as little as $5 a month and shouldn’t pay more than $20 a month for a reputable host that offers all the tools and utilities you might need for your current site–including blog software. Maybe down the line you’ll need to upgrade but by then you’ll know your income and your needs.

Really the only other regular expense that you might consider to make your internet business complete would be a mailing list tool. You can do this for just $20 a month and it will be worth every penny for sales, customer service, and promotion. But this is not necessary to start out and you may decide that it isn’t important to your efforts so you can skip it entirely.

Once you have your blog set up and monetized (by offering ClickBank products, advertising, and/or selling text links) then you are in a position to begin profiting from your writing. The way to profit it to increase your traffic so you need to get serious about your article marketing efforts because each article you distribute will generate immediate traffic and create back links for search engine optimization. Also you need to continue to grow your blog by adding fresh content regularly. This will create repeat visitors as well as bring the search engines back again and again. Simply publishing new articles and new blog entries each week will increase your traffic. The more articles and entries you create — the more traffic you will generate.

Once you have found your rhythm with your existing blog you may well decide to branch out and create a second blog on a different or related topic. Now you should be able to work even faster because you are more experienced but likely more motivated as well because you can see just how rewarding it can be to write for fun and profit.

Once you have an idea for a book and a plan for how to get it written and marketed, it’s time to put your brain to work with some writing exercises. Here are 10 different tips to help your brain get the ‘WRITE’ idea:

• When an idea comes to you, usually unexpectedly, it is time to write

Self publishing might be the best way to publish your book. There are several advantages to self publishing that you might not have considered.

First, and most important, self publishing places you firmly in control of your book. When someone else is paying you to publish your book then they make many decisions regarding the editing of the manuscript, the cover, the title and the marketing that can impact not only how well your book will sell but also how it will be received by the reading public. For example, my second book ended up with the title “Kentucky Kisses” simply because my publisher’s marketing department reported that books with the word “kisses” in the title sold well. I felt the title was rather frivolous for the content but my wishes were ignored.

Self publishing is also faster than traditional publishing. With my novel, Kentucky Kisses, it took me over a year to find a publisher interested in buying and several months before we went to contract. Then after the contract was signed it was another 18 months before my book was released to the public. That is a long time to wait.

Self publishing also allows you to retain all the profits from your endeavor. While you may have to put some money up front (depending on the method you use to self publish your book) you will not have to wait for months or years to see income as a result. Most publishers only pay royalties once or twice a year and then those royalties are only a small percentage of the book price. When you self publish your book then once you have covered any publications costs everything you earn is pure profit.

Finally, it cannot be overlooked that self publishing offers you an opportunity to break into print that might not be otherwise available. The simple fact is that traditional publishing is highly competitive and many worthwhile manuscripts (and authors) cannot find a publishing home although there may well be an eager and receptive audience for that book.

It should be noted that self publishing may not be for everyone. If you are still struggling with your writing and voice, or your manuscript still needs polishing, then you should continue to work on your book and perhaps bring in the assistance of a critique group or professional editor. Self publishing a book that is not yet ready for publication could be a costly mistake. If your manuscript has been polished and well received by several critical readers then you should at least consider self publishing your book.

Not only does self publishing offer you the advantages of complete control, faster publication, and higher profits, it is easier and less expensive than it has ever been before thanks to modern technology. Self publishing could be your big break as a writer.

I hear it all the time from my students and at the seminars and workshops I lead. The writers that I work with are excited to work with a “real” writer. Most people define a “real” writer as one who is published. Therefore I, with three published novels and innumerable newspaper and magazine articles under my belt, certainly qualify.

However, the longer I am involved in the business of professional writing and the teaching of writing the more I question that definition. For me, being a “real” writer is much more about a state of mind rather than a state of being. I believe very strongly that you need to become a real writer before you can become a published writer for I know that while most (if not all) published writers are real writers that the reverse is not necessarily true. I have known many real writers who have not yet been published but I believe they will be some day — if they just stick with it.

Real writers are made. No one is born to be a writer although many real writers are born with a drive or need to be a writer and this is certainly a help during the difficult times and challenges that all real writers face. A real writer requires five essential tools.

The first, and most important, is a unique writing process. In order to write well and effectively not to mention to grow as a writer, you must develop a writing process. A nonexistent, or inefficient, writing process can greatly hinder your ability to write but a writing process tailored to your unique strengths and weaknesses can make your writing stronger and easier.

The second element goes along with the development of your writing process. This is learning your strengths and weaknesses as a writer. What is the most difficult part of writing for you? What is the easiest? The more you know about your own writing then the better equipped you are to take advantage of the areas where you are strongest and to work on the areas where you are weakest.

Another essential element to becoming a real writer is criticism. Writers need to develop the skills necessary to be critical of their own work and to edit effectively. Most real writers also have a support network in place, such as a critique group or critical reader, to assist with this process.

Real writers also need to be readers. Writers must read a variety of authors and types of writing in order to learn more about the language, its structure, and its varied uses. Reading provides inspiration in terms of ideas but also language use and vocabulary. Real writers love language and words and cannot get enough of either. Real writers are readers.

The final essential ingredient for a real writer is a strong work ethic. Real writers practice their craft on a regular basis (usually daily). Some writers only write a few hours a day while others spend many hours writing. The length of time is not as important as a regular writing schedule that is only altered for major holidays or life-threatening illness. Even if you can only carve out an hour a day that is enough time to write a novel if that is your goal. The important part is making your writing a priority and giving your writing muscles a regular workout.

If you want to be a real writer then you must work on these five essential tools of the writing trade: individual writing process, knowledge of strengths and weaknesses, criticism, reading, and work ethic. Once you have mastered these five tools of the trade then you are on the way to becoming a real writer.

1. Don’t set yourself a writing routine or stick to it.

2. Always make sure that doing your writing is at the bottom of your list of priorities, and even when you are writing, if something else you have to do that day springs to mind, then go and do that instead.

3. If one of your friends comes round to invite you out for coffee, just go, no matter how busy you are with your writing.

4. Whenever you’re writing, answer the phone every time it rings and answer the door every time someone knocks.

5. Always feel guilty for doing your writing instead of doing what other people want you to do.

6. Don’t read any articles about writing, especially if it’s written by an expert.

7. If anyone ever tells you of a simple and profitable way to make money from your writing, don’t believe them and never try it.

8. Never take a writing course to hone your skills.

9. Don’t visit any writing sites on the internet, and never subscribe to their newsletters.

10. Don’t join any writer’s forums or participate in any online discussions.

11. Don’t get your own website to showcase your writing ability and writing services to the whole world.

12. Do everything you possibly can not to get your name known in the writing world.

13. Keep your work secret. Always put your writing away in a draw when you’ve finished and never show it to anyone &ndash especially editors and publishers.

14. Don’t enter writing competitions.

15. Don’t submit articles to paying websites.

16. Never even think about writing a book.

17. Especially don’t consider writing a profitable e-book.

18. They say you should write at least 5 article proposals or short stories every week. If you do write them, don’t mail them.

19. If a magazine or publisher offers specific guidelines for submissions, don’t follow them.

20. If an editor likes your work and publishes it, never offer to write for them again.

21. If you send in a query to an editor and don’t hear anything for a couple of weeks, start ringing them and don’t stop until they make a decision about whether or not to publish your work.

22. If one publication rejects your work, assume that it’s worthless and unsuitable for every other publication and don’t send it anywhere else.

23. Whenever you receive a rejection letter, take it personally and throw your work in the bin.

24. Never ever consider the possibility that, if your work’s written from a different angle, it could be suitable for another market and sold again.

25. And if all that doesn’t make you fail, you can always just give up writing.

This is the third in a series of articles with brain-tempting tips that will enable you to make your dream of authoring a book become your reality. Leaders today have a book. The best business decision you can make is to write a book as it provides you instant credibility.

Here are the final powerful secrets to infuse your brain with the write idea.

1. Making appointments with yourself in your personal planner or PDA will ensure you get some writing done. Often what gets written down gets done and your writing time is no exception.

2. Establish realistic time lines for long-range goals. View target dates with flexibility in mind. Be prepared to change direction temporarily if circumstances dictate it. Three thirty-minute writing sessions may be more realistic than one session of one and a half hours. Do not put undo pressure on yourself or you will act in a counter-productive manner and will find excuses not to write.

3. If you are watching television and the show is not really capturing your interest, take that time to write. If you have materials readily available and organized then shifting your attention to writing rather than watching won’t be a problem. This applies equally well to other activities that aren’t capturing your interest.

4. You write more effectively and efficiently by taking regular breaks during long writing sessions. Taking breaks is using your time wisely. The breaks allow the sub-conscious to take over and generate new ideas. Make sure you record these brilliant revelations!

5. Take one lunch hour per week. Eat a quickie lunch and use the time to write. Is there a library or quiet spot near your workplace where you can go? Is writing in your car out of the question? What about staying at your desk while others are away having lunch?

6. If you commute to work by train or bus or car pool, you can use that time to write. If you’re usually the driver, perhaps you can be a carpool passenger once or twice a week so you can write during the trip. Make sure your car-pooling partners are aware of what you want to do during the commute. On vacation trips or other long drives, write while your spouse drives. Drivers are usually content to watch the road and concentrate on driving, so they will not miss your conversation.

7. Be ready to pounce. If a window of opportunity presents itself to get some extra writing time, pounce on it. These unscheduled spontaneous writing sessions are often most productive. Appreciate the fact that you must be ready to take advantage of these situations. These are golden opportunities to do something you love to do. Go for it!

8. View your practical every-day writing as an opportunity to hone your writing skills. It’s attitude that’s important here. Those thank-you notes, staff memos, friendly letters, emails, journal entries and special reports are all writing exercises that give you an opportunity to work on the skills of written communication. You can learn a great deal by writing in all situations. There is always a carry-over to other writing circumstances.

9. Keep writing tools (pen and paper) handy at all times in all places where you just might get the opportunity to write.

10 Writing breeds more writing. The more writing becomes a habit the more it happens. Research says it takes 21 repetitions to break an old habit and establish a new one. Writing for 5-15 minutes per day for 21 consecutive days should establish this writing as a regular habit. So give yourself a reasonable target of 21 repetitions to establish new writing behaviors.

11. Write quickly. Write legibly. Write legible scribbling if necessary. Use abbreviations like w for with and acronyms and the first parts of longer words only. If the only person who is going to read your notes is you, you can take whatever liberties you want to in order to get your ideas on paper and keep the flow going. Scribble now and translate later.

12. As you are writing, put new ideas in the margin of the paper as soon as they come to you. You won’t interrupt the flow of your thoughts on the page because you already have some key words to help you and you have already been writing. Slow down to record your new ideas, but don’t stop!

13. Use the Cloze method of reading for your writing. One technique for teaching students to read is to provide a paragraph with words missing. Students have to fill in the blanks with words suggested by the context of the paragraph. Use this same method to speed up your writing. Insert a straight line in your writing for words that you will know by context when it comes to transcribing your draft copy. Put a _______ in your writing as a placeholder.

14. Use acronyms in your draft copy. You can use the authentic conventional acronyms or you can invent some of your own. For example, ataw could mean Awaken The Author Within or b for book.

15. Learn to cover the page. Think in terms of starting every page as if you are going to cover it with writing as quickly as possible with quality ideas. Thinking this way will help you accomplish more writing.

Implementing these tips will get you off to the WRITE start.

One of the biggest misconceptions about getting a book published is that the publishing company will take care of the marketing. Generally speaking, that’s not true. There are basically three different ways to get your book published. You can self-publish your own book. You can use a small independent publisher or if you’re an established author, you can use one of the big publishing houses like Penguin or Random House. Regardless which of these options you use, you will still be left with the responsibility for the marketing.

There are a lot of different things you can do to promote your book and Tactical Execution has made a business out of helping you see real results out there. But this article will give you a few pointers to help you get started. For more detailed information, visit the website. There’s a ton of free information available there and I hope you take advantage of those resources.

One of the best ways to promote your book is to offer workshops and seminars around the country. It’s not that difficult to do that. You can quickly contact the major Adult Education providers and submit a proposal for a workshop dealing with the same topic as your book. Include the release of your new book in your proposal. The people reviewing workshop proposals love having things like that to include in their marketing.

These Adult Education programs are a hidden treasure to say the least. These companies send out small catalogs of courses to huge mailing lists, trying to attract students to their courses. Submitting just one proposal can get you on the schedule and they do all the marketing for you, leaving you with great exposure for very little cost.

Your book should definitely be featured on your website along with a way for people to buy a copy. Assuming that’s in place, article marketing presents another great opportunity to generate website traffic resulting in book sales. In fact, you’ve already done all the writing too. Just take your book and break it up into a hundred small segments; a hundred small articles. Then publish them individually on the web, each with a backlink to your website.

Article marketing is the primary website traffic strategy I use to promote the Tactical Execution website and you can see all my published articles right on the site. In addition, the site provides specific implementation guidance to get your article marketing campaign up and running. Any seasoned internet marketer can tell you that article marketing is one of the most powerful tools available to attract not just human visitors but search engines as well.

The last tip I’ll share in this article is a paid public relations service called PR Leads. This is a tremendous opportunity to get a ton of great exposure and credibility for yourself and your business. For just $100 per month, you can be on a database journalists use to get quotes for stories they’re working on. You simply identify the areas where you’re an expert and wait for the emails to come in. If you’re quick to respond, you can find your own quotes in major news media within a single week. Give it a try.

Marketing your own book is no easy task. But if you know something about marketing and have some good implementation guidance, you can stage a successful campaign from your own home. Visit the Tactical Execution website to get specific step-by-step instructions so you can do it too.